Summer Woes
by mroscar
Summary: Kaoru, a party girl is enjoying her last summer before she goes to university but her dad has other plans. Seeing her downward spiral, he decides to send Kaoru to her cousin Misao who lives in a small town hoping that his little girl will return. What happens when Kaoru stumbles upon a man with amethyst eyes and bright red hair? KxK
1. Chapter 1

_Hello! This is my first fanfic and I hope you readers very much enjoy it. There may be some slight OOCness but I will try to keep the characters as true to form as my story will allow. If you would like to tell me all the wonderful things I'm doing correctly or, more importantly, all the horrible things I'm doing wrong, please review! On with the story…_

Chapter 1

_Beep. Beep. Beep. _The annoying, repetitive noise of my alarm clock finally reached my conscious mind. My hand felt like lead but eventually it reached my nightstand and knocked my alarm clock to the ground, effectively turning it off in the process. I tried to lift my head but gave up in seconds when a searing pain shot through it. _Too much to drink last night.._ I went to snuggle back under my covers and sleep the remainder of the day when I heard someone open my bedroom door.

"Kaoru, I need to talk to you. Meet me in the kitchen in a few minutes." My dad walked away, leaving my door open to the noises around the house. My brother, Yahiko, was already making a lot of noise. _Heaven forbid I should get some peace to sleep in once in a while. _I got up slowly, knowing my head was going to feel like it was being pounded by a hammer. I walked past the kitchen to reach the medicine cabinet for some pain killers for my headache when I heard Yahiko yelling for me.

"Hey Ugly! Are you up yet? I can't handle your snoring any longer!"

"Shut up Yahiko! I don't snore!" I started rubbing my temples. This headache was just getting worse from his stupid yelling. Why can't he talk like a normal person? And what's with the Ugly name? I'm sure I don't look the best right now with my hangover but I'd like to think I'm attractive. Okita sure thinks so. We've been going out almost a year but I'm not sure what will happen with us after this summer when we go off to separate universities. I guess we just have to enjoy our time together like last night. His lips were so soft and velvety as his hands roamed my body––

"Were you looking for these?" I turned around and I found my dad standing in the doorway of the bathroom holding the painkillers in his hand. I went to grab them but my dad held them out of my reach. "We need to talk about your partying habits."

"Not now, Dad. My head is killing me and I just want to sleep for a week. Then we'll talk about this"

"As soon as you wake up, you'll start drinking again and we'll be in the same position. This isn't healthy for you and I will not allow you to waste your last summer before you enter the real world like this. I've talked to your cousins and they've agreed to let you stay with them for the rest of the summer. Maybe some country living will do you good, since it's clear the city life is corrupting you."

"But what about Okita? These are our last months together before we go to university, I can't just leave now!" I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes. I heard my dad sigh and he put his hand on my shoulder.

"I understand that you'll miss him but I believe this is what's best for you. Take this as an opportunity to reconnect with Misao. You two used to be so close."

"I know but I want to be with Oki––"

"Your train leaves in two days. I hope you take this opportunity to mature and grow before you leave me for university." I ran to my room and slammed my door, headache forgotten about. I grabbed my phone and called Okita telling him we needed to meet. He had to help me out of this situation. Maybe we could run away together…

_Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Also I will try to upload at least once a week, maybe twice if you're nice;) And if you have any ideas on how you think the story should progress, share them! Nothing is set in stone! See ya!_


	2. Chapter 2

_So I was going to wait a week to post this seeing as I just had surgery but mentally I'm feeling fine so I deciding to keep writing because I'm a little (or a lot) excited about this idea. I appreciate the review from __**Shab**__, thank you for the good feedback and hopefully you are excited for this story to progress too! This story is for your, the reader's, entertainment but I would greatly appreciate your feedback, good and bad so please review!:)_

_I forgot this last time–I do not own the RK characters sadly but the story line is my own!_

Chapter 2

Running away wasn't going to work. Okita said his schooling was too important, but what's more important: love or education? I guess we have different answers. I haven't talked to him since he said that and now here I was standing on the train platform, waiting for my transportation to the middle of nowhere.

I looked at my watch again. I sighed. Fifteen minutes late. I could've used this extra time to stuff more clothes into my suitcase. Who knows what I'll need in the forsaken town I'm headed to. I spotted a train coming down the railway. _Finally._

The train came to a stop in front of me and the masses of people started to get off. I tapped my foot impatiently. Eventually they started letting new passengers on and I lugged my suitcase to the door. I wasn't sure how to actually _lift_ the suitcase seeing as it had half my wardrobe but eventually a train employee reached for my bag and led me inside to my seat.

After waiting for the rest of the passengers to get on and the tickets to be checked, the train slowly began to move, taking me away to the most boring summer of my life yet.

As the train pulled up to the mostly empty station, I saw a short girl bouncing with excitement. _Ah Misao… how do you still have the energy of a three year old?_ I sighed and gathered my bag to get off the train. I barely took one step off the train before I was attacked by the small bundle of energy and we landed on the ground.

I heard laughing as I got up and I looked down to see Misao practically rolling on the ground in laughter. How could she find this funny? Didn't she see how she scuffed up my jeans and now I have an ugly scrape on my elbow! Why couldn't she just grow up already?

Still laughing, Misao called for me. "Kaoru! It's so good to finally see you again! I was always hoping you would come visit and then gramps got a phone call from your dad saying you were going to stay all summer and I was so excited. Gramps said if I didn't calm down you would want to leave as soon as you got here but I think he was just trying to get me to stop asking questions about when you would get here. Come help me up!"

She's even more long winded than I remember. I eventually offered my hand though I knew she had the energy to jump up herself. She grabbed my hand and my bag with the other and started dragging me toward the small buildings of the town I was going to be staying in. Misao felt the need to briefly introduce me to every person we passed. I barely had the time to wave before she was dragging me off to the next person.

We finally made it to her grandfather's inn and she led me to my room. I plopped down on the bed, thankful I was off me feet for the first time after stepping of the train. Someone called for Misao shortly after and she skipped out of the room. I laid back on my bed and thought about how long this summer was going to seem.

_I'm not sure if I like how this chapter turned out so I might go back and edit it later. Do you think I got Misao's personality right? Anyway I hope you review! See ya!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Deepest apologies from the bottom of my soul for making you wait so long. I've have a difficult road with my recovery from surgery and am just now starting to write things that I am happy with. Hopefully I will be able to write on a more regular basis to keep the story moving and my readers happy!_

_Here is the next chapter! I hope you'll find this is more detailed and just a better read over all! It may be a little short but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I want to say thanks to all my reviewers for the great advice and enthusiasm for this story, it makes my day! And a special thanks to __**Namikaze Soul **__for being the first person to favourite my story! You are awesome! :D _

_Have no fear, Kenshin will be introduced soon! I also plan on going back to the first two chapters sometime and improve them to enhance my story. Anyways..._

I woke up from clanging being made downstairs. I must have slept in longer than I thought for people to be making that much noise so I glanced at the clock. _6 a.m.?! _Who makes so much noise this early in the morning? I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my head, trying to block out the ruckus going on downstairs.

I yelped when a heavy figure jumped on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs. The weight suddenly disappeared only to be replaced by excited yelling detailing what exactly we were going to do today. I rolled onto my back and tried to catch my breath while half listening to the noise made by the small girl running around my room.

Misao got a bit sidetracked when she said we were going to meet Aoshi so she could train with him and after five minutes of listening to her talk about all the wonderful things Aoshi does, I grabbed my pillow and threw it at her. She stopped talking and looked at me.

"If you're so excited to start the day, maybe you should leave me alone to get ready" I told her coldly. If you wanted to wake me up early, you had better be prepared to be my enemy. She got the hint and with a final wave of energy she dashed out of the room saying she would wait for me in the lounge with breakfast.

I gave one last stretch and a groan before getting up to start my day. It was going to be a long one.

" Kaoru, aren't you going to eat more than that tiny bowl of fruit? I'm taking you to all the cool spots in town and it'll be a lot of walking so you're going to need lots of energy. This one time I skipped breakfast because I was running late to school and in the middle of my history class I passed out! Luckily Aoshi was there to carry me to the nurses office…" I tuned out when she mentioned Aoshi and started going glassy-eyed. I wasn't going to listen to another long speech about what makes Aoshi 'the best guy ever.'

I started listening again when she said Aoshi had a friend that I would probably like "...He's kind of short but really nice and he makes the best rice balls! He's really good at fighting too but I don't think he could actually hurt anybody! I'm sure he'll like you, especially with all your cool stories from Tokyo!"

The prospect of meeting a guy here got my hopes up. I was still hurt by the rejection from Okita and maybe this is what I needed to cheer up a bit. Then I remembered this guy lived in a town with a population smaller than my apartment building so he probably was a cookie-cutter nice boring gentleman, even if he could fight. Just the type of guy my dad would want me to date. Oh well, it'll have to get me through the summer and maybe I'll enjoy myself. Probably not.

_Again sorry about the long wait! I hope to make it up to you. And Kenshin will be in the next chapter, be prepared! Also please review and don't hesitate to tell me grammatical errors (though I aim for none heh)! See ya!_


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